Psychiatrist: Redwood Valley murder suspect delusional

GLENDA ANDERSON

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | October 16, 2012

Billy Norbury suffered from paranoid-type schizophrenia when he killed a Mendocino County reggae musician early this year, a psychiatrist testified Tuesday during the defense portion of Norbury's murder trial.

"He was very paranoid and easy to anger," Dr. Donald Apostle said in Mendocino County Superior Court.

Norbury also was highly intoxicated, with a blood alcohol level estimated at more than twice the legal limit when he shot and killed Jamal Andrews, according to court testimony.

He has entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Apostle said Norbury was delusional, narcissistic, suffered from hallucinations, was pathologically jealous and believed there were multiple plots against him.

For some unknown reason, Norbury apparently made Andrews, a neighbor in rural Redwood Valley, one of the characters in the plots, he said.

Norbury told members of his family, "that black man down the road is doing voodoo on me," Apostle testified.

Norbury also had accused his wife of having an affair with Andrews and believed the Andrews may have turned him in to police for growing marijuana, according to court testimony.

His wife had never met Andrews and Norbury was not under investigation, according to earlier testimony.

Norbury's estranged wife, family members and a member of the Mendocino County drug task force were among those Norbury thought were plotting against him.

After he was arrested in connection with the killing in January, Norbury threatened to kill task force member Peter Hoyle, according to testimony.

Norbury does not believe he is mentally ill and appears to believe someone else killed Andrews, Apostle said.

Defense attorney Al Kubanis has suggested Norbury may have blacked out from the alcohol he'd consumed that day and simply can't remember what happened.

Norbury denies involvement in the slaying despite the overwhelming evidence, including ballistics tests,that link him to the crime.

Norbury did not want an insanity defense and threatened to replace his attorney for advising it, Apostle said.

Norbury ultimately decided the insanity defense would be all right to use if needed, but he believed the jury would find him not guilty, he said.

Norbury's delusions and hallucinations included believing that his house, television and cell phone were bugged with listening devices and thinking people in helicopters and planes were watching him. There also was an incident in which he washed himself off with a hose because he thought spiders were crawling all over his body, according to court testimony.

The defense portion of the trial began on Monday. It included testimony from a black man who as a youth had lived with Norbury's family for about five years. He said he and Billy Norbury were best friends and that Norbury had never shown signs of being racist. Some friends of Jamal Andrews had suggested prior to the trial that the killing was racially motivated and called it a hate crime.

District Attorney David Eyster, who is prosecuting the case, said Norbury may have made racist remarks but the motive for the killing was jealousy, even if it was unwarranted.

According to court testimony, Norbury's family had sought to get him treatment for his mental health problems. They once took him to Ukiah Valley Medical Center for evaluation but he fled when a helicopter passed overhead.